


Displaced

by tamales



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, Modern AU, Slight Greek AU, ghost au, ghost!ruby, major character death sort of but not really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 16:49:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19705465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tamales/pseuds/tamales
Summary: When Ruby wakes up in a random apartment, she is met with many unanswered questions. Where is Salem? How did she get here? Where exactly is here? And most importantly, why can't anyone hear or see her?





	Displaced

“WELCOME TO THE UNDERWORLD”

A soul, with a glowing red and silver core, stared up at the sign. Their head tilted in confusion. The… Underworld? Where was that at? They tried to search through their head, their memories but only came up empty. Their mind was a blank slate, a dull buzzing rang throughout it and made them dizzy when they tried to prod further. With a frown, the soul looked away and rubbed at their temple.

They were in some sort of lobby. A lobby filled with _hundreds_ of other souls, all that lacked the same glowing core that they had. Many of them whispered words that didn't hold any meaning and faces blank with distant, faded eyes, while others sobbed with dry cheeks or stared into the empty, tensioned room.

It made the glowing soul shiver. 

Wrapping their arms around themselves, the soul turned to look back at the sign. Maybe if they looked closer they would find some sort of _sign_ . Cringe, sorrow, and a twinge of amusement made their core flicker at the pun. _Only_... their brain sputtered, the buzzing began to grow louder. Only who? Who would have made that—? That what?

The soul groaned. Their hand rubbed at their temple. The lack of any memories made them feel sick and frustrated. It was right there, the memory- the familiarity! They could feel it, but the more they grasped and reached their head began to pound harder with each attempt. Someone - someone close, the soul could feel - would have approved of that tasteless joke, but who? Who, _who_ , **_who_ **?

A light chime tore the soul from their thoughts. Their blank eyes rose back up to welcome sign only to find out it had changed. It remained the same shape and size, but it had changed into a sort of television. The words no longer read "Welcome to the Underworld" and instead read "Now Serving Number: 14,367,970,001".

The soul stared at the glaring red number with a shallow feeling of confusion. Was that their number? Their empty chest ached. _Did_ they have a number? The crinkle of a slip of paper made them look down. That shallow feeling of confusion grew, becoming more solid. The slip hadn't been in their hand the whole time, right?

Their pale, shaking fingers unraveled the slip and held it in front of them. There were only eleven bold numbers printed on it: **55, 002,349,003**. Their confusion slipped and dread replaced it. Fifty-five billion wasn't even close to fourteen billion. The soul's glowing core flickered.

With one last glance towards the board, which remained unchanged this time, the soul focused their attention on the vast lobby. There seemed to rows upon rows upon rows of other souls sitting, pacing, or running up and down them. Many were weeping, screaming, grumbling, or staring into space, but all of them held the same slip of paper, all with different numbers, and all lacked a glowing core.

What did that mean? The glowing core rubbed at their belly, it was oddly warm and stood out in contrast to the chilly, dreadful air around them. What did the slip mean? Their core flickered.

A sudden chime made the lobby grow quiet. Every soul's attention turned towards the televised board. The red-silver soul looked at the board, then at everyone else with growing confusion. The board hadn't changed at all why—

The sound of ticking coming from the board, forced their eyes back to it. The numbers were changing! The soul ignored the groans, cries, and screams from those who unfortunately didn't have those first couple numbers. Hope and excitement made their core glow brighter as the numbers continue to chime in place until it finally came to a stop.

The board read, in a glowing red font: **"Now Serving Number: 55,002,349, 003** ".

That was them! They twirled in pure happiness. They could almost feel their memories, faces of loved ones, returning to them. Yet, just like that, it disappeared along with their happiness. What now? Their number had been called, but that was it. Nothing else.

The soul lowered their slip as they continue to stare at the board. The numbers glared back at them in mockery. Their core flickered and flickered as if someone was flipping a light switch up and down. Was this some sort of joke, or—

That was until their core went out and their world descended into a chilly, cold, and empty darkness.

What felt like seconds later, the soul's vision returned. They stood in the middle of a large courtroom, it smelled oddly of flowers. It reminded them of a funeral and gave them a sense of familiarity. Lastly, and something or rather someones they overlooked, were three gigantic… deities, gods even, that sat behind an equally large desk. Three golden name cards were placed in front of them, left to right the soul read over them: **Rhadamanthus;** **Aeacus;** and **Minos**.

Odd names in their opinion. They sort of reminded the soul of— of someone, somebody, but who? Gosh, it was right there. The memory, it was close enough they could see a face. Their mind shifted and swirled, molding the face. Then, the face appeared as clear as day, her name was—

“Ruby Rose,” a voice boomed, startling the soul from their thoughts. They flinched, their memories fading, as they stared up at the imposing desk. Aeacus had called them. 

Besides the fact he was over ten feet tall, his face was wrinkled making him seem around fifty with striking, electric blue eyes, and the only source hair was bushy grey eyebrows and a graying black bread. A golden crown that matched his white robes sat upon his head.

Aeacus smiled with perfect white teeth. “It's a pleasure to have you.” In his hands was an opened folder, their name— _her name_ printed on the outside. The soul's core flickered.

“And quite unusual might I add,” Rhadamanthus said, his eyes, seemingly the same electric blue as Aeacus, looked her up and down. He looked slightly over forty with a long beard and long hair. He also wore a crown on his head, but with green robes instead of white. “It's not every day that we have otherworldly beings come here."

The last man, Minos, scoffed, “What do you mean by that? We get plenty of 'otherworldly beings' almost all the time." He was probably the youngest of all of them, pushing thirty at the most, but his own blue eyes were glazed over with a milky white. He also had a crown except with black robes. 

There was some sort of trend going on between the three, the soul noticed. Could they be some sort of kings? Brothers? Brotherly kings? Hm.

“Did you even read her folder?" Rhad, she decided to call him, asked incredulously, his robes flapped around. “It's also part of your job of judging the dead! Gods, I at least hope you skimmed over the last dozen of souls that came through. Their afterlife depends on you as well."

Several swirled around in the soul's head, worry and skepticism among them. Her future, afterlife depended on them?

Minos sat up in his chair, pointing his finger down the table. The wrong end of the table. “I can't see, let alone read you, half-breed!"

“That's why your folders are in brail!"

Aeacus cleared his throat with a tired smile. “Ignore them, Miss Rose, they have the same argument every day. You should know how siblings can be." She did not. Seeing the soul's blank face, he continued, “but yes, Rhadamanthus is right. Your predicament is unusual. There has been an, uh, error, so to speak.”

“And quite a big one,” Minos added, building onto the soul's worry.

“But!" Rhad exclaimed, glaring down the table at his brother, “It's nothing we can't fix."

“It'll difficult."

“It won't take too long."

“Sure, just a couple of millennia."

Aeacus huffed and flipped through the soul's folder. “The only _REAL_ problem being, is where we're supposed to send you during that time and unfortunately, there isn't a place in the Underworld that can take you." His squinted at the folder's contents before glancing up. “Don't worry, it's not that they won't, it's more like they can't. You are from a different world after all.”

A different world? Her core flickered once more. But where else could she go if she was stuck here?

“Well, brother, where will we be sending her?" Rhad asked shifting everyone's attention to the black-robed man.

Minos' eyebrows scrunched in thought, his milky eyes shifted slowly back and forth before coming to a halt. His gaze focused straight onto the soul sending shivers up and down her spine. “For the time being, you'll be sent to a mortal world." Minos finally said and sat back in his chair in satisfaction. 

Rhadamanthus, on the other hand, fumed. “The mortal world?! Brother have you gone insane! Do you not know what Hades will—"

Minos simply waved him off. “I said _a_ mortal world, not ours. Do you really think I have a death wish?" He sighed and rubbed at his forehead. “I'm sorry to say, but I'm not sure which one you'll be going to. That's for the Fa— Ahem, the Maidens to decide."

She stared blankly at them. Was she finally going home? No, he had said a(as in one) mortal world. Could that world possibly be the one she came from, which was… What was again?

“It was, in fact, a pleasure to have you, Miss Rose,” Aeacus said. The folder had been closed and set down, his hand now hovered a large, gold button, “and we wish you the best of luck."

The last thing Ruby Rose was his hand coming down onto the button before her vision was once more gone. Yet, the last thing she heard was a panicked shout.

“Wait!"

—

Aeacus huffed, his hand firmly placed on the button. “What, Rhadamanthus?" 

His green robes bristled as he glared. “We almost forgot to tell her that—"

“She'll figure it out, brother,” Minos cut in, “displaced souls always do… Eventually.”

Rhadamanthus' hand slammed against the desk, frustration building at his brother's dismissiveness. “But we could have sped up the process! She could have forgone the confusion, the hurt, the—" 

“I doubt the Fates would have wanted that,” Aeacus said as he moved the button back into a desk drawer. “I have to agree with Minos, the displaced always figure it out.”

“Eventually,” Rhadamanthus added with a grumble sinking into his seat.

“Yes, eventually."

**Author's Note:**

> this honestly took me forever to finish,,, i started it last year and i think it came out decent. anyway, i promise more rwby characters will show up next chapter.


End file.
